The harvesting of some types of shellfish such as abalone is often subject to government regulations the effect of which is to only allow removal from the ocean floor of shellfish which are identifiable beyond reasonable doubt as shellfish which have been pre-deposited by the harvester.
In view of such regulations, various methods have been used to correctly identify the shellfish, one such method including the step of applying a dye to a shell portion of the shellfish so that the shellfish exhibits a colour which is readily identifiable.
However, because a shellfish often remains in situ for long periods of time the colour of the shellfish often fades and identification becomes difficult.
An alternative method includes the step of fixing a tag to an outwardly facing surface of a shell portion of a shellfish, for example using glue.
However, with this method, the tag often detaches from the shellfish thereby precluding identification of the shellfish by a harvester.